Key Bridge rebuild won’t require lengthy environmental impact study, officials say

Recovery Efforts Continue At The Site Of The Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse In Baltimore

Source: Chip Somodevilla / Getty

Maryland officials will not have to fully evaluate how a planned replacement for the Francis Scott Key Bridge will affect the surrounding environment, including the Patapsco River, federal officials said this week. The move clears a hurdle that could have delayed an already lengthy rebuild process.

The Federal Highway Administration issued the exemption from the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, because the state anticipates the future bridge will share key characteristics of its predecessor — four travel lanes and the same location. The rebuild “will not result in any significant impacts to community, natural, or cultural resources,” the federal agency wrote in its decision, adding that it believed impacts on natural resources to be “minimal.”